![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinianAvailable here: Paper book or PDF
While my home internet was out yesterday, it was lovely to have some things to read already (even if I didn't have the next Touchstone novel yet, argh). This is a thoroughly charming anthology of graphic-in-the-sense-of-comics pornography, and I totally recommend it.
I had heard that the thing to do in anthologies was to start and end with very strong stories, but I don't think that happens here. The first is a bit depressing and not my favorite story or art, while the last has an appropriate happy ending but didn't appeal to me so much either. I'm really not sure how they're arranged, though certainly the art styles and activities depicted vary nicely over any sequence. Tiny story reviews behind the cut.
Just Friends, Rebecca Ruby, Megan Furesz.
Sweet geeky boys, disability-positive. The downer is in the title. The big-eyed, smooth-shaded cartoon aesthetic was a little too much in a few panels.
Meet Cute, Trisha L. Sebastian (w), Erin Basie (a).
A reminder that the most recent generation did not invent sex, or, indeed, BDSM. Art simple, caricatured, with thick lines; not attractive but works well for the joking tone.
Asteroid!, M. Magdalene (w/a), Mr. Darcy (a).
I laughed and laughed. So many great little jokes in this one. Also I want to meet the person who's masturbating to Babel-17, even if I don't have the appropriate body part to hang a fruit basket on. Adorable and hot.
A Boy and His Tenta-Bot, Betty Jean Doe.
Good art, lovely shading, happy tentacle porn, freckles like whoa. What is not to like here?
Love Lorn, Ben Riley and Kel McDonald.
A shipwreck story with interesting-looking protagonists and certain geeky jokes.
Once Upon a Time..., Rennie Kingsley.
Beautiful art, two lovely women of different shapes, and so romantic.
Easy, Leia Weathington and Erika Moen.
Threesome! Two partnered men pick up a woman, and it is all so positive and playfully physical and great.
The Feather, Algesiras Dwam.
A lady has some criticisms of her maid.
Oil for Water, Argets.
Love the style, but feel uncomfortable about the masked, dark-skinned, body-modified desert people being eroticized. One panel makes it clear they're not strictly human, and yet.
Travesty, Ursula Wood (w), Jennifer Doyle (a).
Thug by day, drag queen by night! I'm really happy to see a queer Chinese protagonist, and the story is a good vignette in a complex background.
Kung Fu Hustlers, E.K. Weaver.
Hot chubby punk lady, TJ and Amal art, and pegging. All kinds of awesome. My favorite so far.
Computer Love, Magnolia Porter.
Wiggly outline art, but a cute concept: virtual LDR sex gets its wires crossed with a legitimate business use, and suddenly turns into a different kink altogether. The anatomy is weird, including one panel which I can only describe as "her cunt grew three sizes that day," but overall amusing.
French Vanilla, Shari Hes.
Note that the "spoken words stabbing you with their impact" iconography doesn't work well if the arrow is curved. The art is both pretty and a little off-putting; I think it's hitting the uncanny valley for me. Two cute boys trying to figure out BDSM with TALKING and hotness are adorable, though, can't argue with that.
Love it Loud, Steve Horton (w), Erica Leigh Curry (a).
But why would shapeshifters have different math from anyone else's? Is this some sort of mass-conversion issue? Mavin Manyshaped had to take on and shed mass, but she didn't have to calculate it. I kind of like it if you have to convert density and volume without just having an inutitive understanding; most intuitive understandings of physics actually come from lots of evidence, and it's just luck when ordinary observation produces the right ones. But clearly she's able to poof into some unicorn-pegasus person when she comes, so what the hell is shapeshifter math that she needed a test on it? Lesson to author: throwaway worldbuilding can kill your porn dead.
Overboard, Alice Fox.
Very clean black-and-white pirates meet a mystery woman; all wear confusing attire. This story caused me personal offense: you do NOT treat good optics that way. Also WTF uber-neat trimmed minges. I like the minimalism of the story, though.
Wicked Switch, B. White (w), Ambrosia (a).
Semi-ordinary revenge concept turns weird and awesome. Fails completely as a morality tale.
Yes and No, Alice Hunt (w), Dechanique (a).
Two men meeting in 1957, no written dialogue until the end. Some things are written out as sound effects that really shouldn't be -- "gentle thrusts!" is my favorite -- and I am confused by when their words are pictures vs. not, as it doesn't seem to me to accomplish anything special. The art's appealing, though, and I liked the story.
Extended Version, Carla Speed McNeil.
This is a pretty good joke, but the nature of the joke makes the porn unsatisfying.
Busking Beguile, Jess Fink.
So charming! So queer! I love the swindling, independent, nonconforming buskers and the tentative gay country boy.
The Hand, Blue Delliquanti.
Affectionate drawings of two women of color; all the people look interesting rather than prettified. I'm not sure what I think about the progress of inky desire taking over someone's body starting with their favorite hand; I think it represents developing a queer identity (maybe? kind of?) and her alarm about that, but it plays into sex-as-dirty-scary quite a bit.
A Hymn to Prosymnus, Nechama Frier.
The art is gorgeous, but I cannot support the speech bubbles. Kind of requires that one read up on Prosymnus, as it's a bit confusing as presented.
Fixer-Upper, Pupcake.
Back to the SF and to the just fucking adorable. Sexy human girl's ship needs fixin', sexy (hard-looking and zappy but evidently kissable?) robot girl will take a look.
Thistlebed, Abby Lark (w), Lee Blauersouth and Theo Lorenz (a).
Pretty, pretty fauns and nymphs disporting prettily. Thistle-nymph has understandable difficulties, but all is resolved satisfactorily.
The Annunciation, Spike.
That is the creepiest angel ever. In fact the whole story is disturbing as fuck, and many Christians would be offended I bet. Wow. So cool.
Fiends with Benefits, Diana Nock.
Incubus story adds to high goat-legs quotient in second half of book. I cannot say I have ever seen an incubus-virginity story before, and I am pleased.
Daydreams, Amanda Lafrenais.
Weird exaggerated art with occasional balloon-breast problems, but I guess it grew on me a bit. Sweet ending.
While my home internet was out yesterday, it was lovely to have some things to read already (even if I didn't have the next Touchstone novel yet, argh). This is a thoroughly charming anthology of graphic-in-the-sense-of-comics pornography, and I totally recommend it.
I had heard that the thing to do in anthologies was to start and end with very strong stories, but I don't think that happens here. The first is a bit depressing and not my favorite story or art, while the last has an appropriate happy ending but didn't appeal to me so much either. I'm really not sure how they're arranged, though certainly the art styles and activities depicted vary nicely over any sequence. Tiny story reviews behind the cut.
Just Friends, Rebecca Ruby, Megan Furesz.
Sweet geeky boys, disability-positive. The downer is in the title. The big-eyed, smooth-shaded cartoon aesthetic was a little too much in a few panels.
Meet Cute, Trisha L. Sebastian (w), Erin Basie (a).
A reminder that the most recent generation did not invent sex, or, indeed, BDSM. Art simple, caricatured, with thick lines; not attractive but works well for the joking tone.
Asteroid!, M. Magdalene (w/a), Mr. Darcy (a).
I laughed and laughed. So many great little jokes in this one. Also I want to meet the person who's masturbating to Babel-17, even if I don't have the appropriate body part to hang a fruit basket on. Adorable and hot.
A Boy and His Tenta-Bot, Betty Jean Doe.
Good art, lovely shading, happy tentacle porn, freckles like whoa. What is not to like here?
Love Lorn, Ben Riley and Kel McDonald.
A shipwreck story with interesting-looking protagonists and certain geeky jokes.
Once Upon a Time..., Rennie Kingsley.
Beautiful art, two lovely women of different shapes, and so romantic.
Easy, Leia Weathington and Erika Moen.
Threesome! Two partnered men pick up a woman, and it is all so positive and playfully physical and great.
The Feather, Algesiras Dwam.
A lady has some criticisms of her maid.
Oil for Water, Argets.
Love the style, but feel uncomfortable about the masked, dark-skinned, body-modified desert people being eroticized. One panel makes it clear they're not strictly human, and yet.
Travesty, Ursula Wood (w), Jennifer Doyle (a).
Thug by day, drag queen by night! I'm really happy to see a queer Chinese protagonist, and the story is a good vignette in a complex background.
Kung Fu Hustlers, E.K. Weaver.
Hot chubby punk lady, TJ and Amal art, and pegging. All kinds of awesome. My favorite so far.
Computer Love, Magnolia Porter.
Wiggly outline art, but a cute concept: virtual LDR sex gets its wires crossed with a legitimate business use, and suddenly turns into a different kink altogether. The anatomy is weird, including one panel which I can only describe as "her cunt grew three sizes that day," but overall amusing.
French Vanilla, Shari Hes.
Note that the "spoken words stabbing you with their impact" iconography doesn't work well if the arrow is curved. The art is both pretty and a little off-putting; I think it's hitting the uncanny valley for me. Two cute boys trying to figure out BDSM with TALKING and hotness are adorable, though, can't argue with that.
Love it Loud, Steve Horton (w), Erica Leigh Curry (a).
But why would shapeshifters have different math from anyone else's? Is this some sort of mass-conversion issue? Mavin Manyshaped had to take on and shed mass, but she didn't have to calculate it. I kind of like it if you have to convert density and volume without just having an inutitive understanding; most intuitive understandings of physics actually come from lots of evidence, and it's just luck when ordinary observation produces the right ones. But clearly she's able to poof into some unicorn-pegasus person when she comes, so what the hell is shapeshifter math that she needed a test on it? Lesson to author: throwaway worldbuilding can kill your porn dead.
Overboard, Alice Fox.
Very clean black-and-white pirates meet a mystery woman; all wear confusing attire. This story caused me personal offense: you do NOT treat good optics that way. Also WTF uber-neat trimmed minges. I like the minimalism of the story, though.
Wicked Switch, B. White (w), Ambrosia (a).
Semi-ordinary revenge concept turns weird and awesome. Fails completely as a morality tale.
Yes and No, Alice Hunt (w), Dechanique (a).
Two men meeting in 1957, no written dialogue until the end. Some things are written out as sound effects that really shouldn't be -- "gentle thrusts!" is my favorite -- and I am confused by when their words are pictures vs. not, as it doesn't seem to me to accomplish anything special. The art's appealing, though, and I liked the story.
Extended Version, Carla Speed McNeil.
This is a pretty good joke, but the nature of the joke makes the porn unsatisfying.
Busking Beguile, Jess Fink.
So charming! So queer! I love the swindling, independent, nonconforming buskers and the tentative gay country boy.
The Hand, Blue Delliquanti.
Affectionate drawings of two women of color; all the people look interesting rather than prettified. I'm not sure what I think about the progress of inky desire taking over someone's body starting with their favorite hand; I think it represents developing a queer identity (maybe? kind of?) and her alarm about that, but it plays into sex-as-dirty-scary quite a bit.
A Hymn to Prosymnus, Nechama Frier.
The art is gorgeous, but I cannot support the speech bubbles. Kind of requires that one read up on Prosymnus, as it's a bit confusing as presented.
Fixer-Upper, Pupcake.
Back to the SF and to the just fucking adorable. Sexy human girl's ship needs fixin', sexy (hard-looking and zappy but evidently kissable?) robot girl will take a look.
Thistlebed, Abby Lark (w), Lee Blauersouth and Theo Lorenz (a).
Pretty, pretty fauns and nymphs disporting prettily. Thistle-nymph has understandable difficulties, but all is resolved satisfactorily.
The Annunciation, Spike.
That is the creepiest angel ever. In fact the whole story is disturbing as fuck, and many Christians would be offended I bet. Wow. So cool.
Fiends with Benefits, Diana Nock.
Incubus story adds to high goat-legs quotient in second half of book. I cannot say I have ever seen an incubus-virginity story before, and I am pleased.
Daydreams, Amanda Lafrenais.
Weird exaggerated art with occasional balloon-breast problems, but I guess it grew on me a bit. Sweet ending.
